Internet community cheers power of protest

By Roger Yu and Jon Swartz, USA TODAY

In New York City: Protesters demonstrate against SOPA and PIPA outside the offices of Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on Wednesday. Schumer and Gillibrand are co-sponsors of PIPA.

In New York City: Protesters demonstrate against SOPA and PIPA outside the offices of Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on Wednesday. Schumer and Gillibrand are co-sponsors of PIPA.

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The Internet community's rallying cry against anti-piracy legislation had its intended effect of grabbing the nation's attention Wednesday, though the final outcome remains far from settled.

Technology companies staged an online blackout to protest two related bills that would crack down on websites that use copyrighted materials and sell counterfeit goods.

Starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, hundreds of websites went dark or displayed banners protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate's similar bill, known as the Protect IP Act.

Between noon and 4 p.m. Wednesday, Twitter said there were 2.4 million tweets related to the pair of bills that Internet and new media companies say threaten innovation and freedom of speech on the Web. Google says more than 4.5 million people signed its petition online protesting the legislation as word spread to casual Web users who may not have previously paid attention.

"It's a long boxing match," says Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Grass-roots organizers and tech companies "did an excellent job making the point clear. But I'm not ready to declare (the legislation) dead. It's wounded."

The Internet cabal started feeling its oats late Tuesday night, when Craigslist, Yahoo's Flickr, Google, The Huffington Post, WordPress and other sites hopped aboard the anti-SOPA bandwagon — joining Wikipedia, Reddit and others. In all, thousands of sites participated in the 24-hour blackout in some fashion, ranging from prominently displayed messages to outright shutdown.

The snowball-like momentum reflected the "weight of big names opposing SOPA (and the influence they had on others) to oppose it," says Greg Sterling, an independent analyst who closely follows social media. "People want to be on the winning side of the issue and (once they saw) momentum turning, they joined the party."

Added Reddit CEO Alexis Ohanian, "It is a testament to how the Internet works. Whether an (interesting) video or a cause, it shows the exponential growth of the Internet."

Protests extended beyond the digital world and spilled into the streets of New York on Wednesday, with a similar event in San Francisco.

The stunning success of the protest, with its overwhelming impact on Web users, now raises the question: How might the organizers and their supporters flex their new-found political muscle in the future?

Organizers will no doubt team up again if, and when, members of Congress stitch together new versions of SOPA and PIPA. "This process shows the enormous clout in our industry, and I hope we use it to support other causes," says Michael Fertik, CEO of Reputation.com, a security firm that did not participate in the blackout. "The protest underscores how much of a media power we are."

The bills' supporters, including business trade groups, publishers and media companies, downplayed the effects of the blackout, calling it a political stunt.

Tom Allen, CEO of the Association of American Publishers, says some protesters operate on misguided information. The bills, he says, target only foreign websites that clearly engage in illegal activities. "The reaction is astonishing," he says. "In all my years in Congress, I rarely saw a demonstration that had so little connection with the legislation at issue. Opponents have vastly overstated what this legislation is about."

Beyond the battle of public relations, SOPA opponents also gained real legislative ground.

While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., still plans to hold a procedure vote on PIPA on Jan. 24, several key backers dropped their support Wednesday, likely killing the prospect of the current versions. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a co-sponsor, announced he had withdrawn his support of PIPA, as did Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. On the House side, Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Ariz., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., also backed out.

The bills' sponsors have made overtures to negotiate and will continue to push the legislation forward with a few changes already proposed.

After much protest, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who introduced SOPA, said late last week that he plans to scrap a provision in the bill that would have allowed copyright holders and law enforcement officials to block foreign websites accused of online piracy. Obama administration officials also backed the change. "Strangely, those who demanded that change are now shutting themselves down, although it is not clear why they are still protesting after they got what they wanted," says Steve Tepp, an attorney at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "In the spirit of compromise, the pending bills have been modified."

But opponents of the anti-piracy legislation aren't backing down despite Wednesday's successful online protest. They contend that the legislation contains other provisions that are troublesome to Internet companies, says Marvin Ammori, a First Amendment attorney.

Copyright holders could still ask the courts to force marketers to pull ads from rogue websites, have financial institutions stop payments and get search engines to stop listing such sites.

"It's better, but so many problems still remain," Ammori says. While few lawmakers would admit to changing their position overnight based on an Internet protest, the blackout brought quick results, says Daniel Gervais, an intellectual property professor at Vanderbilt Law School.

"In terms of interest it generated, it changed a couple of votes. I can't prove that, but that's my sense," he says. "But this is not a tool that can be used for everyday policy warfare. At some point, it might lose appeal or become irritating."

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